Antihero - Qt3 League

Has anyone been able to buy a second gang? And what transpired thereafter? Was it worth it? I’ve gotten as far as the Safecracker but it was late in the game and not of much value. Tim insists that approach is viable but I’m not sure.

I’ll definitely consider nerfing the coins charity to 3 gold.

(And yes, the balance update isn’t going out this week - sorry for the false alarm. I’ve just been up to my eyeballs :/)

I’m glad, because I really want to finish this game with @robthomasson! It’s wacky.

@Goatgoatgoat I think the present scheme of 4 gold 2 Lanterns is fine. It’s a comeback mechanism but penalizes the player because he cannot then get an upgrade. If 4 gold eventually proves to be OP, I’d leave it that way for the first Charity and then maybe keep it at 3, but so far it feels to me like 4 is okay.

Are the placement of the neutral thugs totally at random? They always seem to propagate on the worst possible tiles for me, as if my opponent placed them.

NOTE:
I am really sick with bad cold/sore throat/cough. I may not be able to get turns in. I will try but if for some reason I can’t get the league games finished I will concede. How I wish this was on my iPad!

Indeed. I think you tipped the momentum in your favour on your last but one turn which is why I resorted to getting VPs. So 4-1 to me but I think that now you overwhelm me and take the game … unless, unless …

Gg, @Mysterio !
Zebra 6, Mysterio 4

Three assassinations, haven’t done that before. That was the difference. Also had two bribes and one blackmail.

Seems to me strategies (not mine, of course) are become more sophisticated as we learn more about the game.

I think you meant someone else, as our game is still in progress. :-)

Good grief! Sorry about the misreporting!

Zebra 6, @geewhiz 4. Gg and please feel better, soon!

Was ahead of @mysterio 4-0 and just resigned. I got very sloppy and he was on top of it and completely reversed matters in three turns. There was no way I was going to win, so I took the easy way out. Gg!

Hopefully, I don’t do that again!

Mysterio (6) > Zebracadabra (4) on Masquerade

gg, @Zebracadabra! You were on a worrisome roll in the early game.

Mysterio (6) > GeeWhiz (4) on Masquerade

gg, GW! And, since you messaged me in-game on my final turn stating I should be able to acquire another Bribe and you can’t view the log, it looks like only 3 Bribes are available to acquire in a single game. So I had to go for an Assassination VP to end it.

Oh, good to know!

Neutral henchman placement is semi-random. At the beginning of each player’s turn, the game counts the number of existing henchman, and if it’s below a threshold (which changes over the course of the game), it decides to spawn a new one. (Sometimes it will spawn multiple.) It prefers to spawn a henchman in the player’s set of immediately-scoutable tiles - that is, it prefers to scout a henchman at the very periphery of the current player’s unscouted region.

So yes: the henchman are (deliberately) spawning in a way that can block your scouting :) The flip-side of this is that the game is also trying to keep Gang-fodder within easy reach!

A[quote=“Goatgoatgoat, post:274, topic:127788”]
So yes: the henchman are (deliberately) spawning in a way that can block your scouting :) The flip-side of this is that the game is also trying to keep Gang-fodder within easy reach!
[/quote]

I’d say keep an eye on this. In my last three games, it happened often enough to kill my turn. When that gets in the way of strategic planning, it adds no value to the game. Admittedly, my circumstance may not have been quite the norm but it wasn’t just annoying, it was having a significant impact.

I should add that “semi-random” is the right approach, just needs the right balance.

I am on the exact opposite side of Zebracadabra: I find the random spawning of henchman at the edge of my scouting area both a very useful defensive tool, and an good opportunity for the gang. For one, they are blocking my adversary as much as me! Not killing some of those is part of the consideration I have to “build” the map to my liking - and especialy, protect the so feeble first gang. And then, not having any henchman spawn around is, on the contrary, one of those frustrating event that forces you to scout far, far away to feed your gang, in risky territory to top it off.

I agree with LE.

Yeah - this particular feature has undergone a huge amount of playtesting (it’s been in the game for years), and I’m pretty happy with how it works, so it’s unlikely to change much.

Philosophically, I think Antihero benefits from having random features like this that sometimes tilt the balance slightly in your favor, and sometimes do the opposite. It may, however, be the case that certain maps simply attract too many henchmen. For example, the Wharf is smaller than the other two multiplayer maps, so perhaps it should have a lower threshold for max-spawned-Henchmen (it does not, currently).

It’s very interesting! I had the feeling the default city map lacked henchmen while the others had plenty of them, but it appears it may be simply due to the size of the map.
It makes for very different personnalities, for sure (the default map had, to me, always a much more dark and grim, “industrial” atmosphere than the two others).

@Dave_Perkins Dang … I should have used my Thief on that church to trigger that trap before risking the Truant Officer … but I got greedy hoping to evict you from both churches. I have not been taking notes on when/where I see traps being placed.

Could be that you win on your next turn then …

Edit: … and so you did. Excellently played. I would have been able to invoke the Sisters on my next turn and use them to get another Assassination and my last VP so you timed it perfectly. Well done [he said through gritted teeth].